Funding Measure on Ballot

The Cal State Northridge athletic department on Tuesday succeeded in placing on next month’s student election ballot a measure that could mean the difference between financial feast or famine.

On Oct. 18-19, Northridge students will vote on a referendum in which registration fees would be hiked $49 each semester. The funds would underwrite the majority of the athletic department’s budget.

The Associated Students Senate on Tuesday voted to place the referendum on the fall ballot by a 15-4 margin. The Senate also authorized a plan in which voting will take place by touch-tone telephone.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Athletic Director Bob Hiegert said. “It is primarily going to be educating the students as far as the consequences if it doesn’t pass.”

Passage of the referendum is critical to maintaining the school’s NCAA Division I status, department officials claim.

The Northridge athletics program stands to lose as much as $700,000 in 1995-96 because of budget cuts and earthquake-related expenses on campus, officials said. The referendum would generate approximately $2.25 million if the current enrollment of 24,000 remains steady. The school’s current athletics budget is $3.6 million.

The department, which had a similar fee proposal shot down in the spring, doesn’t plan a reprise.

A publicity blitz is planned leading up to the election and Hiegert already has met with Matador athletes to outline the positives associated with the referendum’s passage. Hiegert said a meeting to plan campaign strategies has been planned for today. A rally has been planned for the eve of the election.

If the proposal is defeated, Northridge might be forced to make drastic cuts, which could result in the elimination of football and other programs.

Northridge could revert to Division II unless 14 teams can be fielded, the requisite number for membership in Division I, Hiegert said. The school has played in Division I since 1990.